Lesson video

Hi, I'm Ms. Mia.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson today.

For this lesson, you will need a copy of the novel, The Twisted Tree.

I hope you're excited about this lesson.

I am.

Let's get started.

In this lesson, you will be able to write an article about Mormor's death that includes a variety of sentence types for different effects.

Your keywords are on the screen now, and you can write them down if you'd like to.

Let's go through them first.

Simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, adverb.

Now let's find out what these keywords mean.

Simple sentence, a sentence with a subject and a verb that expresses a thought or idea.

Compound sentence.

Compound sentences join together two main clauses to form one complete sentence.

Complex sentence, a sentence made up of a main clause, which makes sense by itself, and a subordinate clause.

Adverb, words or phrases that modify or qualify an adjective or verb.

Let's move on.

So this lesson is all about the novel, The Twisted Tree, and we're going to be writing an article about Mormor's death.

So we've got three lesson cycles in this lesson today.

In our first lesson cycle, we will be revising sentence types.

In our second lesson cycle, we will then go on to writing an article introduction.

And then lastly, for lesson cycle three, we'll be writing an article on Mormor's death.

I'm super excited about this lesson.

I hope you are too.

Let's get started.

So in this lesson, we are going to write up our articles about Mormor's death using our plans.

In particular, we are going to focus on focused writing.

Focused writing is where we follow a step-by-step structure to really focus on the choices we make, particularly at the sentence and word level.

We are going to focus on varying our sentence lengths to create specific effects as a writer.

What sentence types can you recall from our previous study?

I'd like you to discuss this with a partner.

You can pause the video here and click Play once you've done this.

Well, we can make our writing engaging by varying our sentence structures.

Sentence types include complex sentences, compound sentences, simple sentences, imperative sentences, interrogative sentences, exclamative sentences, declarative sentences.

Varying our sentence types and even our sentence structure by where we place a subordinate clause, for example, will make our writing vivid and engaging.

Let's recap the sentence types we will use in our article.

A simple sentence is one main clause.

This means that it has a subject and a verb and expresses one complete thought.

For example, "The striker scored.

" So the striker is the subject.

So remember, a verb is a doing or be in word, and this is known as a simple sentence.

So over to you.

Which of the following is true of simple sentences?

Is it A, they contain two main clauses, B, they contain one main clause, or C, they contain a variety of verbs and subjects?

What do you think?

You can pause the video here and click Play once you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

Well, a simple sentence only contains one main clause.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on.

Now, compound sentences join together two main clauses to form one complete sentence.

The two main causes are typically joined together using a coordinating conjunction such as: and, for, but, so, yet, nor, or.

For example, "The crowd cheered wildly, and the team surged forward to score again.

" So, the crowd cheered wildly.

This is our first main clause.

It is a complete sentence on its own, since it contains a subject which is the crowd, and a verb, which is cheered, in this example, and it expresses a complete thought.

And is our coordinating conjunction, and it's been used here to join the two sentences together.

And this is our second main clause.

It also makes sense on its own, since it has a subject, which is the team, and a verb, surged, and you can see that it is a complete thought.

So remember, it's because it joins together two main clauses.

Over to you.

Which two of the following are true of compound sentences?

A, they have one main clause and one subordinate clause, B, they have two main clauses, C, they can be joined together by a coordinating conjunction.

What do you think?

You can pause the video here, and click Play once you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got B and C, you are correct.

A compound sentence has two main clauses, and they can join together by using a coordinated conjunction.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on.

Complex sentences.

So these are made up of one main clause and one or more subordinate clause.

A main clause is a complete thought and makes sense on its own.

For example, "The ball went into the top corner.

" A subordinate clause is a group of words that add extra information to compliment the main clause, but they do not make sense on their own.

For example, "Bending around the wall.

" So if you link this main clause and subordinate clause, then you form a complex sentence.

For example, "Bending around the wall, the ball went into the top corner.

" So in order to join the main clause and the subordinate clause together, the sentence will often use subordinating conjunctions such as: since, because, until, if.

For example, "Since training more, the team had played very well together.

" So here is our subordinate clause with a subordinating conjunction.

So the subordinated conjunction that has been used here, can you guess what it is?

Yeah, so it's since, and the subordinate clause here is training more, so since training more.

And here is our main clause, so the team had played very well together.

So it makes sense on its own, and we can see that the team is the subject and the verb here is played.

Now, to construct your complex sentence, the subordinate clause can go at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the sentence.

If the subordinate clause goes at the beginning of the sentence, then you need a comma after the subordinate clause.

So here's the example.

Since training more, comma, the team had played very well together.

So our subordinate clause is there, since training more, comma, the team had played very well together, and that's our main clause there.

Over to you.

A complex sentence has one main clause and at least one subordinate clause.

What do you think?

Is this true or is this false?

You can pause the video here for this part of the check for understanding.

So what did you get?

If you got true, well done.

Why do you think this is?

You can pause the video again, and click Play once you've got the answer.

So you may have got this.

So the subordinate clause provides extra, complimentary information for the main clause.

Well done if you got that.

Let's move on.

In addition to these sentence types, we also have the following sentence types which are useful for news articles.

Interrogative sentences, declarative sentences.

With a partner, I'd like you to discuss what you remember about these sentence types.

You can pause the video here.

Hmm, so, let's have a look.

Interrogative sentences, a sentence that asks a question and ends with a question mark.

For example, "Will they win the championship this year?

" A declarative sentence, a sentence that expresses an idea.

For example, "The team is the best in a generation.

" Task A, read this example paragraph reporting on the deaths of Olav and Yrsa in the novel.

Identify each of the following.

"Skjebne is in mourning.

Our town has been left shocked and horrified and the community are demanding answers.

In mysterious circumstances, Yrsa and Olav's bodies were found by dog walkers just before dawn.

The police are investigating the tragic event after reports of ferocious wolves stalking the area in recent weeks.

However, is there something much darker and more disturbing waiting to be uncovered?

" I'd like you to identify these sentence types: simple, compound, complex, declarative, and interrogative.

You can pause the video here, and click Play once you've completed this task.

So how did that go?

Here is how you could have approached this task.

Let's have a look.

So, "Skjebne is a mourning," is a simple sentence, and we can see that here because we've got the subject and the verb.

So Skjebne is the subject, and mourning is the verb.

And then we've got our compound sentence here.

"Our town has been left shocked.

" That is our first main clause, and then we've got, and, which is our conjunction, followed by our second main clause here as well.

So here we've got our complex sentence.

So, "In mysterious circumstances, comma, Ursa and Olav's bodies were found by dog walkers just before dawn.

" So "In mysterious circumstances," is our subordinating clause, and then, "Ursa and Olav's bodies were found by dog walkers just before dawn," is our main clause.

Here, we have our declarative sentence.

"The police are investigating the tragic event after reports of ferocious wolves stalking in the area in recent weeks.

" And it's a declarative sentence because it's expressing the idea that the police are investigating the event.

And lastly, here's our interrogative sentence.

We can see that it's interrogative because it's followed up with a question mark.

Well done, if you manage to identify those sentences.

Let's move on.

Lesson cycle two, writing an article introduction.

Adverbs are words or phrases that modify or qualify an adjective or verb.

In general, they express a relation of degree, for example, perfectly, slightly, focus, for example, particularly, mainly, frequency, for example, usually or rarely, manner, for example, happily or sadly, place, for example, nearby, above, and I'm sure you can think of some more, and lastly, time, for example, quickly, slowly.

"He shouted angrily," gives us an indication of the manner of how the man shouted, angrily being the adverb.

Over to you.

"He shouted regularly," uses an adverb to express a relation of, is it A, frequency, B, place, C, focus, or lastly, D, degree.

What do you think?

You can pause the video here, and click Play once you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got A, frequency, you are correct.

We can see here that the word regularly is used as an adverb to express the relation of frequency.

Now, adverbs can be helpful in our newspaper articles as they give the reader a clue about where our writing is heading or what emotional response they should have.

For example, in an article about Mormor's death, we may use the adverbs: sadly, strangely, shockingly, regretfully, crucially.

Over to you.

Task B, Skjebne's newspaper has asked you to write an article reporting on Mormor's death and celebrating her life.

Write up the introduction to your article being sure to follow the below steps.

Sentence one must be a compound sentence that includes an adjective.

Sentence two must start with the phrase: "In circumstances.

" Sentence three must be a simple sentence of no more than six words.

Sentence four must be an interrogative sentence, starting with, "However.

" Sentence five must start with an adverb.

Sentence six must be a complex sentence.

Sentence seven must include a language device of some kind.

You can pause the video here, and click Play once you've completed this task.

So how did that go?

Let's read this extract from Jun's work.

"Mysteriously, she seemed to know the ancient legends were true.

Mormor was a protector.

She guarded the family's secrets, and she taught us the old ways.

Although she faced many supernatural threats, her spirit remained unbroken, and she inspired all you knew her.

" So let's self-assess.

Where has Jun used an adverb, a simple sentence?

Well, we've got the adverb here, "Mysteriously," and the simple sentence could be identified here, "Mormor was a protector.

" Well done for completing this task.

Let's move on.

Lesson cycle three, writing an article on Mormor's death.

So let's recap the key parts of a newspaper article.

We've got the opening: who, what, where, when, why?

The five Ws.

The main body is essential information.

For example, interviews with witnesses.

And the tail, other background information.

Over to you.

Which part comes at the end of a news article?

Is it the opening, the tail, or the main body?

What do you think?

You can pause the video here, and click Play once you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got the tail, you are correct.

The tail comes at the end of the news article.

Let's move on.

Task C, Skjebne's newspaper has asked you to write an article reporting on Mormor's death and celebrating her life.

I'd like you to now write up the rest of your article using your plan.

Ensure that the main body and tail of your article uses a variety of sentence types, includes key background information about Mormor, uses the appropriate adverbs.

And lastly, I'd like you to include the five Ws: who, what, when, where, why, throughout your article.

You can pause the video here, and click Play once you've completed this task.

So how did that go?

Well, let's self-assess your work, and then identify where you have used the following sentence types in your article: complex sentences, compound sentences, simple sentences, imperative sentences, interrogative sentences, and declarative sentences.

Well done for identifying the different types of sentences in your article.

Now we're going to summarize our learning.

So this lesson was to do with The Twisted Tree novel, and we were writing an article about Mormor's death.

You now understand writing with focus.

One sentence at a time allows you to carefully craft each sentence.

A paragraph should include simple, compound, and complex sentences.

Lastly, starting a sentence with an adverb can be effective to set the tone and add further detail.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson.

I hope you really enjoyed it.

Bye.